It seems reasonable to abandon the use of fresh frozen plasma in fluid resuscitation in critically ill patients. There are no definite criteria to decide which of crystalloids and colloids should be preferred. It is unquestionable that, to achieve a given haemodynamic effect, the amount of crystalloids needed is almost twice the amount of colloids (1, 2). Colloids and crystalloids have different effects on a range of important physiological parameters. As most of the critically ill patients underwent one or more volume replacements, even a small increase in the risk of death (around 5%) has considerable clinical implications. The meta analyses suggested a 5% absolute risk reduction in mortality in favour of crystalloids (4, 5). The number needed to treat, an estimate which is more clinically meaningful (6), is of 20, suggesting about 1 additional death (with colloids) for every 20 patients resuscitated. Given the number of patients exposed to fluid resuscitation, about 60 additional deaths might be observed per year in a ICU,receiving 600 patients a year.